| 1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: |
| 2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. |
| 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. |
| 4 "Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' |
| 5 "But they paid no attention and went off--one to his field, another to his business. |
| 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. |
| 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. |
| 8 "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. |
| 9 Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' |
| 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. |
| 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. |
| 12 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. |
| 13 "Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' |
| 14 "For many are invited, but few are chosen." |
| 15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. |
| 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. |
| 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" |
| 18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? |
| 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, |
| 20 and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" |
| 21 "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." |
| 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. |
| 23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. |
| 24 "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. |
| 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. |
| 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. |
| 27 Finally, the woman died. |
| 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?" |
| 29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. |
| 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. |
| 31 But about the resurrection of the dead--have you not read what God said to you, |
| 32 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living." |
| 33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. |
| 34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. |
| 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: |
| 36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" |
| 37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' |
| 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. |
| 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' |
| 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." |
| 41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, |
| 42 "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they replied. |
| 43 He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For he says, |
| 44 "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet." ' |
| 45 If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" |
| 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. |
